Pearson plc, the international media company, announced today a
series of agreements that will accelerate the development of its online
education network.

Pearson and America Online, Inc., the world's leading
interactive services company, have reached a preliminary agreement to
serve as a framework for developing a relationship. It is envisaged that
the relationship would establish Pearson's education network as the
preferred supplier of educational content and online learning tools with
AOL providing carriage for Pearson's education network on the AOL
service and other America Online, Inc. brands. The two companies will
also investigate opportunities to collaborate on the development of a
curriculum architecture and a range of select education tools. The
Pearson education network will also be available through the Internet at
large.

Pearson has also announced today the first of a number of strategic
alliances with, and equity investments in, leading Internet educational
companies which will further strengthen the development of its education
network. The alliances are with:

-- SCORE! Learning Inc., at www.eSCORE.com, a national provider of after-school
learning centers and online learning services.
-- Copernicus Education Gateway, at www.edgate.com, which provides customized,
local, online access to education resources and activities for kindergarten to
12th grade.
-- Blackboard Inc., at www.blackboard.com, a leading Internet infrastructure
company. Its software platform powers online teaching environments at over
1,800 colleges and universities and in 70 countries.

Marjorie Scardino, chief executive of Pearson, said: "Around
the world, public and private resources devoted to education are rising
rapidly as individuals, companies and nations strive to be part of an
increasingly brain-powered world. The Internet personalizes learning to
individual needs in a way that has never been possible before. We aim to
create an online learning environment that transforms the educational
opportunities open to all of us at every stage of our lives, wherever we
live in the world."

The education network, to be launched this year, aims to be the
leading online learning portal. It will supplement in-school activities
from elementary school through to adult learning, with both ongoing
education and professional training. The portal will draw on content,
tools and distribution channels from Pearson businesses, and incorporate
content from other leading print and Internet educational and consumer
publishers, both within and outside Pearson.

The network will earn revenues from a mix of individual
subscriptions and site licences from schools and e-commerce and
advertising revenues in the open access part of the network. Advertising
will not appear on the site when accessed from schools. The overall
development of the education network is being led by Pearson's
in-house digital publishing company, San Francisco-based Headland
Digital Media. The brand identity for the network will be announced at a
later stage.

Pearson's education network

The education network will extend the ongoing learning activities
of its participants. For example, the elementary-school teacher portal
will include lesson planning software and teacher training materials.
Parents of school-age children will have access to a fully integrated
site that ties back directly to the components of the student's
experience, thus establishing a genuine home-school connection. The
college student portal will provide detailed, subject-specific learning
materials for key academic disciplines. The adult-learning portal will
provide information and resources relating to personal and professional
development. Each portal will integrate the components that the online
environment makes possible--fast communication, easy access to peers and
tutors, a set of always accessible organizational tools, self-paced
learning and assessment opportunities, and a host of subject- and
grade-specific learning resources.

SCORE!

Pearson is also forming a strategic alliance with, and has agreed
to take an equity stake of at least 9%, valued at around $20 million, in
SCORE! Learning, Inc., a subsidiary of education and career services
company Kaplan, Inc., and a leading national provider of learning
programs and educational resources. This alliance extends the
relationship already in place between Pearson and SCORE!, wherein more
than 100 neighborhood SCORE! after-school centers already use adaptive
digital curriculum created by Pearson's Computer Curriculum
Corporation. Pearson and SCORE! will work together to develop the
technology required to create new services for Internet delivery. These
services will be available at SCORE! centers as well as directly over
the Internet via eSCORE.com, making SCORE!'s educational coaching
available live on the Internet. eSCORE.com , a leading provider of
online learning and resources for children, will also be prominently
featured within Pearson's education network, making it possible to
offer online coaching and support to students whose teachers and parents
use the network.

Kaplan (www.kaplan.com) is a premier provider of educational and
career services for individuals, schools and businesses. Kaplan offers
test prep and admissions services (www.kaptest.com); K-12 educational
programs for children and parents through SCORE! Learning, Inc. and
www.eSCORE.com; on-site education and professional development at
schools and universities; books and software; professional education
services; and distance learning programs (www.KaplanCollege.com). Kaplan
is a subsidiary of The Washington Post Company (NYSE: WPO).

Copernicus

Pearson is taking a 10% equity stake and Board representation in
Edgate.com, Inc., creator of The Copernicus Education Gateway
(Copernicus), which provides customized, local education portals for
teachers, parents and students in local schools and school districts
across the United States. Copernicus will co-brand their localized online education gateways with Pearson's education network, and the
combined offering will be promoted by Pearson and Copernicus as a key
element of the kindergarten to 12th grade section of the network.
Pearson and Copernicus will work together in placing their content,
goods and services within these localized gateways.

The Copernicus Education Gateway uses an "open content
model," allowing each local online community to customize and
enabling educators to add content of their own selection to meet the
needs and interests of their community members. Educators easily post
homework assignments and other important community announcements by
using their Copernicus SchoolNotes for parents and students to retrieve
this information anywhere at any time. Educators direct students in the
classroom and at home to their school's customized Copernicus
Education Gateway to gain access to local school and community
information, research information and other websites. Educators access
the Copernicus Curriculum Matrix to retrieve their state's
educational standards with cross-referenced lesson plans and other
Internet resources. Schools are able to place online fund-raising events
in their Copernicus Community to reach community members.

Blackboard

Pearson is partnering with, and will invest in, Blackboard Inc., a
leading Internet Infrastructure company whose software platform powers
"edu" online environments at more than 1,800 colleges,
universities and in more than 70 countries around the world. In addition
to online administrative and community services, the Blackboard
CourseInfo product line enables educators to enhance in-class
instruction and/or deliver distance learning by bringing their course
materials, class discussions, assignments, and quizzes to the web. More
than 2.1 million people worldwide teach and learn in online education
environments powered by Blackboard.

The Blackboard partnership will further position Pearson as the
premier provider of higher education content and services for online
course environments. The Blackboard CourseInfo course management
platform will be featured in the education network serving the Higher
Education, K-12, Professional Development and Adult Learning markets.
Pearson and Blackboard are also in the process of developing plans for
cross-promotion and development of content and services for
Blackboard's Scholar.com and Blackboard.com web properties and the
Higher Education portion of the education network.

Notes to Editors

Pearson Education

Pearson Education, the world's largest education business,
covers the school, college and professional markets. It is the leading
US school publisher, publishing textbooks and electronic education
programs across the whole curriculum. In the US elementary education market, Scott Foresman is the preferred publisher and offers companion
websites and digital workbooks for many of their titles (e.g.,
www.sfreading.com). The Waterford Reading program is the leading
electronic reading program for children of kindergarten age. Prentice
Hall School (www.phschool.com) publishes in all the major secondary
programs and, in addition to companion websites, creates
subject-specific learning communities (such as www.chemplace.com) for
high school students and educators. KnowZone (www.kz.com) is an online
assessment program linked to state tests, which can be accessed by
teachers, students and parents either at school or home.

Pearson Education is also by far the leading higher education
publisher in the US, covering every part of the college curriculum
through imprints such as Addison Wesley Longman, Prentice Hall and Allyn
& Bacon. It has a significant portfolio of premium web-based
educational content including online assignments and interactive
exercises for self-assessment and practice, lecture resources and full
testbanks for exams. This information is available in over 1,200
"Companion Websites" and in many commercial course management
system platforms such as WebCT and eCollege.

It is the world's leading technology publisher, with over
1,000 computer and technology titles published each year through
imprints that include Que, Sams, Prentice Hall, Cisco Press, Adobe Press, New Riders, Peachpit and Addison Wesley. InformIt
(www.informit.com) is positioned to be the leading vertical portal for
accomplished and aspiring IT professionals.

Outside the US, Pearson Education is the premier English Language Teaching publisher and a leading publisher of indigenous works in the
school, university and professional markets in countries all around the
world.

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